How to Counter a Social Media Myth
A Dummy's Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin, Mannequin American
What to Do if Social Media Spreads a Myth About Your Company
Occasionally I get an email about specific content of this blog offending someone. I could respond with, "Get over it, that's how I write." But I usually don't do that. While I don't believe in candy coating things to avoid potential sensitivities of readers, I do understand that certain hot buttons can strike chords with some people. I can't avoid all of those landmines without severely hampering my writing style. But I can empathize and say that I'm sorry for my part in arousing those feelings in a reader of my blog ... which is what I typically do. But what if your company or your product is "called out" on the internet? What do you do? What do you say?
James Thatcher is one of the more internet-famous brand managers in Procter & Gamble history. He was the target of an open letter from a disgruntled consumer about the "Always Have a Happy Period" campaign. The letter has had remarkable staying power on blogs and Twitter since it was first published in March 2007, with about 64,500 Google hits and counting.
There's just one problem: Mr. Thatcher doesn't exist.
The letter was originally written by a former advertising copywriter for the humor site McSweeneys.net, under the header "Open Letters to People or Entities Who are Unlikely to Respond."
P&G has largely ignored the Thatcher letter and their silence may have been the best move. The mythical letter seems not to have hurt the company's product Always one bit. Its dollar market share is up 5.8 percentage points since the "Happy Period" campaign came out and 2.6 points to 52.4% since the letter started making the rounds.
A key is that P&G knows their target audience."Complaints to the Happy Period campaign come mainly from women who prefer tampons," a company spokesperson said. The original consumer insight behind the campaign -- that pad users tend to feel less negative about their periods and see them as a normal, healthy part of life -- appears to have been right, given the brand's growth the past three years.
All this raises the question of when brands should respond to social-media criticism of their ads. Certainly social-media controversies that speak to the core of a brand promise ... such as the YouTube video in which (now former) Domino's employees adulterated food, or another showing people breaking into Kryptonite bike locks ... need to be addressed.
But people who just don't like ads typically pose less risk.
In a way, P&G's non-response to Ms. Aarons' letter these past 30 months has been the mirror opposite of J&J's rapid response to Motrin ads that offended some women who carry their babies in slings. There's speculation that J&J, by responding early to the blogger moms, may have given more life to something that otherwise may have died. I'm in that camp.
Data suggests that ad controversies don't have much lasting impact either way. Anyone who's made anything has critics. Here are three ideas from Andy Sernovits to help separate the pointless troll comments from something that deserves a response.
What to look for:
- How influential the commenter is. Probably the biggest early indicator of a potential crisis is how influential the person raising a fuss is. The bigger the network the critic has, the faster the negativity can spread.
- How your core fans are responding. If you see that your core group of evangelists is upset about an issue, that could be an early warning that something is really wrong.
- If it spreads to another channel. Seeing an issue translate from a few comments on a blog to an increase in angry calls to the call center should be a clear signal that you've got a serious issue brewing.
Speaking of Negative Social Media
People of Walmart is a blog that lets people upload, rate and comment on photos of oddly dressed people seen shopping at Walmart. (Apparently there's no shortage of subjects.) And it would seem there's not a darn thing Walmart can do about the blog.
If Walmart tries to squash the site, they'll quickly become the target of social media. If they laugh with the site, they'll be accused of laughing at their own customers.
They're better off to stay quiet and let the hoopla die down. Which it will, eventually.
In the meantime, some of the photos are really, really funny. It becomes rather voyeuristically addictive ... and you'll feel much better about yourself ... I promise.
Kudos to New Clorox Commercial
It has to be tough to produce a commercial that will run during a show about advertising. And frankly I'm surprised that I haven't seen any marketing/advertising-related blogs talk about the effectiveness of the new Clorox Bleach commercial that appears during Ad Men on AMC.
The commercial does a wonderful job of validating Clorox's enduring marketing edge in a very old category, while at the same time connecting to Ad Men by showing the evolution of the product's logo and container. I'm sure many viewers relate to the depictions of how laundry has been tackled through the years ... with Clorox always part of the picture. Well done.
The Basics of 
Fifth in series by guest contributor, Leslie Bonk, APR
What the Heck is a Bit.ly or TinyURL?
Since Twitter only allows 140 characters to be used...long URLs can't be copied into Twitter. There are several sources that create custom small URLs that can be pasted into your message. For example, I wanted to Tweet about the Whitepaper I wrote regarding Social Media. That link is:
http://www.bmpr.com/whitepaper-request.aspx a whopping 43 characters. I went to www.bit.ly and it created this URL for me http://bit.ly/X2tDy at 19 characters. The nice thing about bit.ly is that it provides stats on your links so you can tell if anyone is clicking on your links. And the account is free!
What is the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.?
It's real. It's entertaining. It's the brainchild of literary celeb Dave Eggers.
Ever consider where Wonder Woman got her invisible plane or Bruce Wayne, his manor? Chances are, like all savvy caped crusaders, they found them at the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company. Below are a couple of photos from their catalog.
The Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. is a crime-fighting supply retailer whose sales support 826NYC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 through 18 with workshops in creative and expository writing.
With a brick and mortar store as well as an e-commerce site, they sell products ranging from capes and costumes to secret identity kits and maps exposing good and evil. It's a great place to find clever gifts that can't be found anywhere else. Visit the Web site by clicking here.
